“Reresed for further escape”, reviewing criteria for putting people in open prisons

Recognition of justice cases have been requested by the Ministry of Justice to review the criteria for placing people convicted in the correctional institutions of the open type, as they see the “risk of other fugitives”.

Speaking of recent escapes, with Faton Hajriz's particular emphasis, analysts blame the institutions responsible, as placing persons in the corrective open-type institutions that have not been resocialised is wrong.

Lawyer Ardian Bajraktari has said that placing people in these institutions, which have not been resocialised enough and have long been completed in corrective institutions, should not be placed in Smreconica.

Bajraktari has said placing these people in open-type institutions is the wrong interpretation of provisions of the law for executing criminal sanctions

The “referenced what we have seen and the legal provisions of the law for executing criminal sanctions, I appreciate that concessions have been made with the case of reviewing criteria with special emphasis on the possibility of placing people condemned to open-type corrective institutions such as the case with corrective Institutions, respectively, that the correcting Centre in Smreconica has reached a relatively high degree of relocation, that the concept of being placed in such a type of person institution means that the person has done such a good part of punishment and has yet remained to complete a relatively high degree of relocation to the individual's purpose, so that the individual's life in the process is to determine the case with the corrective body, and then the corrective institutions that the corrective one.

The corrective institutions of the first type should be understood to be an institution in which physical barriers, but also the level of security is relatively low, because here the category of people with relatively low risk or persons who, as I said, have carried out the immediate portion of the sentence and have remained a relatively short time, is considered to have reached the high degree of re-Socialisation respectively, and it is a provision for the same to return to society, so the possibility of people who have not been rescilitated and have been very nice years to complete the correct institutions. Placing these people into these institutions, in my conviction, is the wrong interpretation of the provisions of the law for executing criminal sanctions”, Bajraktari has declared.

And those who haven't achieved enough resocialised, Bajraktari holds institutions accountable.

Of course, the state is primarily responsible, in three ways. The first one that has not reached enough or managed to resocialize the person in question, then review the criteria and set the corrective open-type institutions, a person who has not been resocialized has enabled the same prisoners to escape, as opposed to the following actions after the arrest of the same. The possibility of his leaving Kosovo, all of this resulted from what we're actually witnesses to. So in all, first of all, there are the state bodies responsible for”.

Policy Review by the Ministry of Justice, researchers from the Kosovo Institute for Justice, Gzim Shala, have also asked. Shala has told Online Economy that it is necessary for the Justice Ministry to reconsider its policies. He has said that there should be an adequate assessment in each case whether a certain person should be placed in an open prison type or not.

The original “should emphasize the fact that Mr. Hayriz has been in prison for years and for all this time period, the pronounced sentence itself is supposed to reach one of his goals, which is to prevent his carrying out and resolution in such a way that the same person becomes a useful person in society. While in a concrete case against the fact that years of imprisonment have passed, it seems that this goal has not been achieved and this situation is about looking into and revising the policies of the Ministry of Justice and the Correcting Service in the direction of resocialisation and reintegration of persons holding sentences. As for his escape from Smerkonica's open prison, it is very necessary that the Ministry of Justice reconsider its policies, in terms of placing people in open type prisons, there should be an adequate assessment in each case whether a certain person should be placed in an open type of prisons. Definitely all circumstances are the reason for the Justice Ministry to approach and analyse this entire situation”, Shala has said.

Shala has also addressed criticism for statements by Minister Albulen Haxhiu, who reported a national danger and for a “intervention of another state in Kosovo prisons”.

The Ministry of Justice must reflect in the face of this to reveal the needs of the Correcting Service, Kosovo prisons. For this, the justice minister has chosen to stress that the Serb state, which is influencing the prisons of the Republic of Kosovo, is guilty. Unfortunately in the face of this statement, what I would expect the prime minister to invite him to the meeting and ask him what this kind of influence is, what our competencies are, and how they could stop him, this Serb influence on Kosovo prisons, but despite that the prime minister criticised the Special Prosecutor who simply did his job. He simply interviewed the justice minister, who in public reported on a national danger, for an intervention of another state in Kosovo prisons. And that's why this approach of the prime minister and minister, the way it exploded, regardless of whether it's true or not, is problematic”, Shala said.

Shala has said that people in the Smreconica prison should be placed who have no interest in escaping, and that according to him the assessment should not only be formal but should be a merit assessment.

The “needs to be done in each one's assessment of the person condemned to the whole of the circumstances, in view of the extent of the sentence pronounced in his past, his specific circumstances, in order to know what the level of risk of escape is. That's why prison types differ from Smrekonica's open type to high security prison. For this reason it is very important that the assessment be adequate and be specific in each situation, in order to keep in mind the danger of escape”.

Only if a prisoner has no interest in escaping, then only then should such persons be placed in an open-type institution such as the Smrekonica prison. Instead, they must be kept in institutions that are stricter and that the possibility of escape is too small. The assessment should not be only formal but should be a holistic and merit assessment that is done in each case regarding the level of risk assessment and then its system in a certain” prison, Shala said.